Jagdalpur: BJP leader Narendra Modi on Thursday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying he was being “arrogant” by refusing to order a probe to ascertain if negligence had led to blasts in his party’s rally in Patna.
Modi, who was addressing a public meeting in this Chhattisgarh town, also referred to the Maoist attack in which several top Congress leaders of the state were killed and said that Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was on a yatra, had cancelled his journey and ordered not only a judicial probe but also visited the families of the deceased.
He said that this was in sharp contrast to what the Nitish Kumar-led government did after the serial blasts in the BJP rally that killed several people.
“Such a big incident had taken place in Patna….and the people in the government there were having sumptuous meals, there was no sign of pain on their faces. The body language and words used were such as if some happy event had taken place,” Modi said.
He said that when a journalist asked whether there had been any laxity on the part of the Bihar government, the response he got was that forget negligence, there is no need for a judicial probe also.
Without naming Nitish Kumar, Modi alleged that the behaviour exhibited was such that it befitted a person who could back stab for political gains.
He also claimed that while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had been claiming that his government had brought the food security legislation, the BJP government in Chattisgarh had already implemented such a scheme in the state.
Meanwhile, in an attack on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Union minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that instead of sharing their vision on issues, opposition leaders were discussing matters like erecting statues.
“The debate that we are hearing in the country is – you have done this, you have done that, you have damaged the country. Talk issues,” he said, adding that the present political discourse was revolving too much around criticism and opposition.
“What is your vision on health, education. What is your vision on the economy. What is their alternative vision, nobody is discussing that. And what is being discussed is that we want to raise a statue. That statue, it is a feeling, you keep it in your heart. The feeling of unity arises from the heart or can it be created by erecting statues,” he said.
Sibal was apparently referring to Modi’s pet project of installing the tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat.
He said that those who focussed solely on criticism and opposition, cannot succeed. (PTI)